Nothing will dampen the spirits of opening day like injury news. That’s exactly what the Orioles received earlier today when Brian Matusz, after a bullpen session, felt soreness in his left side. He was scheduled to pitch in tomorrow’s game and has already been scratched from the start. He underwent an MRI today, the results of which are not known at this time. Showalter will wait until the severity of the injury is revealed to decide how to adjust the rotation.
Today is a day that was anticipated by some and dreaded by others. Final cuts were made to get down to the 25-man limit today. Backup catcher Craig Tatum was optioned to AAA Norfolk and Brendan Harris was sent to the minor-league camp. The third name was one that O’s fans were hoping to not see, but unfortunately saw anyway.
Top pitching prospect Zach Britton will start the season in Norfolk along with Tatum. A stellar spring of 3-0 with a 1.35 ERA wasn’t enough to earn him a spot on the big league roster for opening day. This won’t be the last we hear of Britton this year for sure and I’m not referring to the impressive numbers he’s sure to put up in AAA. We’ll just have to be patient to see his name on the Camden Yards scoreboard.
Brad Bergesen and Chris Tillman will break from camp part of the squad. One will likely get the start this Sunday. Buck’s keeping us in the dark a bit longer on that one it seems. Due to the off days scheduled early in the season the Orioles won’t need a fifth starter till April 10th, so which ever doesn’t start Sunday should get the ball that day.
The feel good story of this year’s spring training had to be Jake Fox. After being acquired last June in a trade from Oakland he struggled to find playing time and came into this spring as a long shot to make the team. That long shot turned into reality today as he found out he will serve as the team’s backup catcher.
On Thursday we learned what the Orioles rotation will look like to start the season, well part of it anyway. Despite an up and down spring Jeremy Guthrie, to no one’s surprise, will start the opener this Friday against Tampa Bay. It will be the third time in the last four years Guthrie will get the ball to get the season started.
24 year-old left-hander Brian Matusz will get the start on Saturday and second-year starter Jake Arrieta will get the ball on Monday in the home opener against Detroit. On starting in front of the home fans Arrieta said, “Everybody’s going to be excited for the 2011 season. I plan on going out there and showing them what we’re capable of doing this year.”
The spot for Sunday’s game is still up in the area and Showalter is believed to be deciding between Chris Tillman, Brad Bergesen, and top pitching prospect Zach Britton. Britton took an interesting approach to the news that he’s still in contention for starting the season in the rotation, “Obviously I don’t have the experience of the other guys, but I haven’t had the opportunity. Until I get that chance, I’m always going to be the guy without experience.” His time of no longer getting that chance will almost certainly end this season, it’s just a matter of when. Even if he’s not on the opening day roster there aren’t many that believe that he won’t be called up at some point this season.
Due to continued soreness in the hip he had off-season surgery on, it looks like Justin Duchscherer will start the season on the DL. That would give two of the three starters listed above with a shot at being in the rotation, atleast for a short time. The hope is that Justin will be back towards the end of April to take over as the fifth starter.
There’s still a few days left for Showalter to brainstorm about the remaining pieces to his rotation puzzle, but we’ve got more of an idea of what it will look like than we had a week ago. With the injury track record of Duchscherer I would imagine that this won’t be the only time this season we’ll hear about someone filling in for his spot in the rotation so the shuffling may not be completely over yet.
Buck Showalter’s comments in the April edition of Men’s Journal have been public for about two weeks now and the backlash continues to pour in. Was he right? Was he out of line? Were they taken out of context? I’m going to go with “Yes” to the first one, “No” to the second, and “I highly doubt it” to the last one. Maybe he was trying to deflect some of the attention off of his team and onto himself. Afterall, there has been alot of optimism around the Birds this spring and getting the media to talk about him and less about the players might let the guys calm down and relax a bit.
When speaking on Derek Jeter he said, “He’s always jumping back from balls just off the plate. I know how many calls that team gets — and yes, he [ticks] me off.” Later in the interview he spoke on Theo Epstein, general manager of the Red Sox, and had this to say, “”I’d like to see how smart Theo Epstein is with the Tampa Bay [Rays] payroll. You got Carl Crawford ’cause you paid more than anyone else, and that’s what makes you smarter? That’s why I like whipping their butt. It’s great, knowing those guys with the $205 million payroll are saying, ‘How the hell are they beating us?”
I’ve always thought, in appearance and even some mannerisms, Buck kind of reminded me of Earl Weaver. Well now he’s given me another reason to think it. Earl hated losing more than anything. Buck does too, almost to the same extent. And what have the Orioles not done since 1997? That was the last year they finished above .500. Over a decade of futility plus a manger who doesn’t like to lose generally don’t mix well. He’s tired of the Orioles being considered a doormat for the Yankees, Red Sox, and all of the American League for that matter.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that Andy MacPhail didn’t have any problem with the comments and felt like it would be out of the news in a few days. Normally conservative, I was expecting him to revert to a “no comment” stance, but to my surprise he didn’t. On the second part he’s right. By the time the season starts this will all be forgotten. Will it be brought up again the first time the O’s play the Red Sox and Yankees? I would be shocked if it didn’t. To be honest, I don’t think it registered anything above a 2 on the Richter scale at either Red Sox or Yankees camp, and it really shouldn’t. It should register a 10 at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota though.
If last season’s sampling after Showalter took over is any indication of what fans have to look forward to, then maybe the bullying is over. A 34-23 record and respectable 6-6 against the Yankees and Red Sox after his arrival sounds pretty good to anyone who’s followed the Orioles recently. It looks even better when you look at the fact the O’s are 68-116 against the Red Sox and 62-122 against the Yankees the last 10 years. Baltimore travels to New York for the first time this season on April 12th and the first game against Boston is a few weeks later, on the 26th so we don’t have long to wait to see what effect Buck’s comments have on this year’s fortunes against the bitter AL East rivals.
Was the end to last year a result of people playing to keep their jobs or the start of a new era in Camden? Probably a little of both, with more of the later. I’ve been a believer in Andy MacPhail and, from what I’ve seen so far, I think Buck Showalter has was it takes to usher in a new era here. It won’t happen overnight, but small success leads to big success, and for a town starved for success any at all is welcome.
For those of you with Orioles on your fantasy teams, or with drafts coming up this weekend or early next week, Prim Siripipat and Erick Karabell from ESPN’s Fantasy Focus previewed the Baltimore Orioles with fantasy relevance.
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Exactly what can we expect from Vladimir Guerrero this season? A continuation of his torrid spring? A fall off that’s been expected for the last 3-4 years? Conventional wisdom says that he’s got to slow down at some point, doesn’t he? Most of us thought that last year and he went out and hit .300 with 29 homers, 115 RBI’s, 83 runs scored, and maybe more impressively 4 stolen bases. Watching Vlad run the bases the last 3 years has me wondering who could possibly fail at throwing him out? But let’s be serious. The O’s aren’t giving him $8M this year to steal bases.
His spring training stats are showing anything but signs that he’s starting to slow down (no pun intended). He was 3-3 with a double and 2 RBI’s in today’s game against the Phillies. Today’s perfect day at the plate means he’s now hitting .341 with 3 homers and 11 RBI’s in 14 games this spring, just what O’s fans wanted to see from the new full-time DH. Other than David Ortiz is there a player more suited to a DH role than Guerrero? I’m going with no. Pay him to hit and that’s exactly what he does.
With Roberts’ back hopefully healthy enough for him to play significant games, Markakis and his near automatic .290 – .300 average, and Derrek Lee hitting in front of him, he should see plenty of opportunities to equal his RBI total from last year. No more playing the field did well in preserving his knees last year in Texas where he played 152 games, the most he’s played since 2006 when he played 156. Showalter will be hoping to pencil him in his lineup card for that many games and more this year.
My prediction for this season is one very similar to last year. What do others think, lets take a look.
MLB.com’s 2011 outlook for Vlad: “Vlad experienced a resurgence during with Texas last season, besting all of his 2009 numbers and posting his highest home run total since ’06. He signed with Baltimore in February to serve as the team’s primary DH and cleanup hitter, but trusting any 36-year-old player to repeat previous numbers is risky”
ESPN.com’s 2011 outlook: “More DH time clearly agreed with Guerrero, and scouts are pretty much unanimous that he can’t play the field anymore. Thus, he will be the DH in Baltimore to take advantage of the juice still left in his bat. At age 35, expecting him to go over 500 at-bats again may be a bit much, but he’ll be productive when he plays”
It should be a fun year watching him spray balls around the Camden outfield, with the occasional one landing out on the flag porch on Eutaw. Even more so than that, I’m looking forward to seeing the notorious bad ball hitter swing, connect, and probably get a hit off of a pitch that probably no one else in the league probably could. I hope I’m there for the game he hits a pitch that bounces before it gets to the plate.
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It’s looking more and more likely that Camden Crazies will have to wait a bit past opening day to see the Orioles revamped and much improved lineup complete in a game that counts. We received updates today on the injuries of a few key members of the lineup and one of our newly acquired arms. The news isn’t necessarily bad, but the words “cautiously optimistic” come to mind when speaking of second baseman Brian Roberts, first baseman Derrek Lee, and starting pitcher Justin Duchscherer.
Brian Roberts has been battling a sore back this spring, well since January to be exact, and with the recommendation of the training staff had an MRI to determine the severity of the injury. The results came back showing no structural damage and he will begin a rehab program that will hopefully have him ready to start in the season opener against Tampa Bay on April 1st. The words “Brian Roberts” and “back injury” are nothing new to anyone here or any O’s fan anywhere as we all had to watch the Orioles take the field 103 times last season without Roberts in his customary second base position on the diamond and at the top of the lineup. Roberts seems optimistic that he will, in fact, be ready for opening day, so I’m going to be optimistic right along with him. There’s no underestimating how important Brian is to the O’s lineup as his ability to get on base, steal bases, and go from 1st to 3rd or 2nd to home on a base hit are invaluable to those who follow him in the lineup.
On the last day of 2010 the Orioles reached an agreement on a 1-year deal with former Braves, Cubs, Marlins, and Padres first baseman Derrek Lee. The hope was that he could fill a first base position that lacked power last season. In looking for power they found they right guy. He hit 30+ homers four times and driven in 100+ twice in his career. While being fairly durable throughout his career, staying healthy the last two season has been a struggle. He has not yet made an appearance this spring due to an ailing right wrist. He has begun light tossing and has taken a few swings in the batting cage and we received more encouraging news today that plans are for him to take live batting practice on Wednesday. He was quoted this week as saying “It won’t be much longer before I’m in a game”. I’m hoping he’s right and I’m sure Buck Showalter is too.
After spending the last 7 years in Oakland, Justin Duchscherer was brought in to give provide a veteran arm to the rotation to help mentor the younger Brian Matusz, Brad Bergesen, and Jake Arrieta. He’s made only one appearance this spring, going 2 innings against the Phillies last Tuesday because of continued soreness in the left hip he had off-season surgery on. Speaking to reporters on Monday he said that the discomfort he was feeling was similar to the pain he felt before he had season ending surgery last year, which I’m sure wasn’t what fans or the Orioles wanted to hear. The results of the MRA showed no structural damage and he will be shut down for the next 2-3 days while a plan is developed to decide which direction to head in next.
While the news sounds encouraging for Lee and Roberts, I’m not sure what to make of the Duchscherer’s situation. All three have had recent histories of not being able to shake injuries, but for now I’m going to be optimistic and assume Lee and Roberts will be occupying the right side of the O’s infield on April 1st. In the event Duchscherer isn’t ready we’ll probably be looking at either Chris Tillman or Zach Britton at the bottom of the rotation. While the consensus around Camden is that one of them will most likely be up at some point this season I don’t think the plan for either was to have them on the opening day roster. We still have 16 days till first pitch so we’ll keep our fingers crossed for the best.
Promising right-hander Jake Arrieta continued his solid spring with another good start in yesterday’s 8-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. His victory leaves him 2-0 in three starts this spring with an ERA of 4.00. While he’s gotten himself into situations where he’s had to work with runners on base, as evidence by his 13 hits allowed in 9 innings so far, he’s done a solid job of maintaining his composure and working out of situations, a trait that you see more from established veterans and not someone with his relative inexperience at the major league level. He’s also done good job minimizing walks, only allowing two, which as helped to aid in his damage control.
Yesterday’s outing was much of the same. He gave up 8 hits in 4 innings, but since he picked up the win I feel obligated to say those hits were “scattered”. On the impressive side he struck out 6 with an no walks. Despite the high hit total, the most runs he gave up in an inning was one, once in the second inning and once in the fourth. Arrieta was noticeably upbeat and positive after the outing and was quoted as saying, “A ton of strikes. I felt comfortable with all my pitches, my depth on the breaking ball was very good, same thing with the slider. My changeup is coming along. I don’t think I could be happier with the progress up to this point.”
Buck Showalter, being the perfectionist he always is, wasn’t quite as complimentary with this post game comments. He said the Jake was ”up with a few pitches” and that he had “seen him alot better”. He went on to say that for his next start he would let Arrieta go 5 innings and see how that goes. I like the approach by Showalter and his motto of always trying to improve and never being completely satisfied is exactly what the O’s need and especially this young pitching staff.
It will be fun to watch the season unfold and follow one of the Oriole’s more highly touted pitching prospects begin his journey through the major leagues in his first full season with the club. As with any young pitcher he’s a work in progress and there will be bad starts. But the future certainly looks bright when you can see that he’s not just relying on pure physical ability, but thinking his way through situations. I’m looking forward to heading down to Camden Yards to get an upclose look for sure.
Orioles FANS, Happy Its Almost Raven Time!
This will be a double feature story. This story will appear on both this Ravens Red Zone, and also Camden Central:A Baltimore Orioles Blog for Sports Blog Net, so this is some history in the making folks! So maybe you all are getting the urge to pop open a cold brewskey from your $20 Flea Market Fridge lol?
“Thank God” we have the Baltimore Ravens! Enough with the damn torture Orioles! You have turned our sports town into a damn joke! Well we aint laughing bucktooth! If the Orioles would have been the worst team in MLB the past 2 years instead of the 3rd worst(Nationals, Pirates) we would have Strasburg and Harper. Now the Nationals are the talk of baseball, and we have become even bigger of a joke. I swear if I ever go to a Orioles game at Camden Yards(It better be free, that circus team aint getting my hard earned dollars) and if I see the Oriole Bird, I might just throw a uppercut like Mike Tyson on him!
Comparing the Ravens to the Orioles is like comparing “Opposites” and “NO They Dont Attract here in B-more”. You have a winning franchise(who never lets us down in the Ravens) and you have a team in the Orioles who constantly tries to lie, and tell us how good they will be, only to be dissapointed harder than the year before. Being a Orioles fan with “Hope of winning a World Series” is like being on “Death Row” your wasting your life!
If I were Peter Angelos(owner of O’s) I would try to hang out with Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti! He could take some notes on what it takes to be a succesful, professional sports owner. Angelos is more “Clueless” than Alicia Silverstone was in that damn movie. Sell the team already! Summertime baseball has gotten so bad with the O’s, that I am thinking about becoming a minor league baseball fan. Our Bowie Baysox are competitive, cheap to see, and they do alot of firework nights. I need to BURN my Orioles jersey to hell, and purchase a BaySox jersey.
Yeah, Im keeping my Ravens jersey! After all, I dont have to worry about getting my *ss kicked wearing it, like I do when I sports that Tejada jersey. People are getting stomped sports O’s shirts here. Its almost like wearing a Taliban shirt. People will wanna tape there knuckles up, and dance with you on the street. 4 fans have reportidly been beat down in the last 2 weeks wearing O’s shirts. Im waiting for the day where our local news gives out a warning “NOT” to wear Orioles shirts for safety reasons. Stick with your Ravens shirts…after all they are winners!
Lol, I have to give Dave some props on this story. It had me laughing for quite a few minutes. Here is his take on a Adam Pohl stoy I did a few weeks ago. Adam….see bro, you have people on your side.
Dave write this blog…..
Tim Lumber is a Baltimore Area blogger who loves to pretend he is a press writer. And as a pretend press writer, Tim Lumber wants press passes to events. The problem at hand is that Tim Lumber is a blogger. He holds no Associated Press credentials and is wrongfully identifying himself as a member of the press/media. Tim Lumber wants free shit. Below is an “article” he wrote for Camden Central. Camden Central is a sports blog. It is not an AP affiliate. And once again, Tim Lumber is not a member of the media in any fashion.
I write a blog. I have written several blogs in my day and many times regarding sports teams. Not once was I delusional enough to ask for or in Mr. Lumber’s case, DEMAND that press passes should be provided. The thought never crossed my mind. If I were to cover an event, I always paid out of pocket for my admission to the events. On occasion, passes were provided but I refused the offer. I want to be able to write unbiased and uninfluenced accounts of the event. It is a difficult task to perform when you are provided passes to the event you are covering.
Tim Lumber is an opportunist. He is a bully who uses his poorly formulated words to lash out at those organizations that do not bend to his will. The Single-A Orioles affiliate Frederick Keys were on Mr. Lumber’s radar of hatred. I have snagged the article from his blog and posted it below. I do not have a copy of the original request for press passes, but I am inclined to believe that Tim Lumber has no idea of the proper way to request press passes. Do you know what would help to secure press passes to events Mr. Lumber? The answer is: Being a member of the press. And yes, I know you blogged for some online newspapers, but that still does not make you a member of the media. I once sent a letter to Penthouse Forum (completely made up of course. All those letters are). That does not make me a porn star.
The following article is completely unedited. It is written by Tim Lumber.
Source: http://oriolecentral.wordpress.com/
Frederick Keys..Adam Pohl is NO Director of Public Relations!
Posted on May 8, 2010 by timlumber1
I sent the Frederick Keys Director of Public Relations a e-mail over 2 weeks ago, requesting Press Passes. This guy never has gotten back to me. Is it because me and Fredrick News Post editor Jason Brennan dont see…eye to eye? Lol, when I blogged at Frederick News Post, everyday, I had 3 times as many readers as Jason…now adays, I have like 10 times more readers. He fired me…lol, he should have fired himself.
Now this guy Adam Pohl, what does he do at work all day? Is he sleeping, drinking, playing on the internet? I have never in my life NOT recieved a e-mail back after requesting Press Passes! Frederick Keys…this does NOT look good for your organization. If YOU dont want GOOD media, then I can serve you some sh*t media! I know all the big players/writers in Baltimore…we can let the public know the truth! I am waiting for the damn e-mail Adam! I decided to send this guy another e-mail tonight, here is what it said lol…
Hey Adam,
I sent you a Press Request over a week ago. I have heard nothing from you. I know its your job to get back to me.